Hall English 1101 Fall 2020

Category: Portfolio & Reflection (Page 1 of 7)

Daziah’s Portfolio Assignment

Final Reflection:

As a reader, writer, and scholar what I can say is that words, organization, and critical thinking was hard for me in the beginning but now I feel like I have gotten better at it. I mean trying to find the right words, the bigger picture, and what you want people to take out of your story or essay has its perks for example. As a reader I am guided with information in which let me know what not to do as a writer, and also the things I should do as a writer. I mean I read and learn how to say certain things, how to be organized, and how to intrigued the reader, but reading and doing is way different. As I read the lines and in between them I understand that no reader wants to see unorganized work. Being a reader, we want want to know the point in why someone wrote this, they want to be guided and informed rather than misinformed we want a purpose. As a reader we want to be able to get an understanding. I learned that I want to be able to think, and even sometimes be confused, I even want to be able to ask myself questions because that is the key to being not only a good reader but also a scholar and especially a writer. As a reader when reading books, articles, and etc. I was taught to look for the main purpose look for the plot, and look for what I’m being informed or persuaded to do. Throughout a book my goal as a reader is to to feel the reader, the reader needs to bring out every emotion because that is what a good book does.  As a scholar I am guided by my teacher who guides me with these sources, and does their best to provide an understanding on what people want to see. They provide us with information and how we can better our work and selves as we begin to work on writing. I learned to be prepared, to ask questions, and have your work criticized because that is the great process of preparing to be a writer. As a writer I learned to care about your readers. Ask questions to yourself from a reader’s perspective. When writing it is essential to know how to use your words because if you do not it will only confuse the reader. As a reader, writer, and scholar I would be able to take back the importance of being a reader, writer, and scholar. I mean as I enter my next chapter, I want to be able to bring the importance of reading and getting the understanding of what I am reading. I want to be able to take Professor Hall critics of my work to focus it on my future work. For example, Professor Hall has explained to me that I should be more organized with my work. When writing I always tend to jump into different topics. I did not know how to introduce my work properly and as a result of that I tend to leave the readers lost and confused. She taught me that I need to be more vivid give the readers a chance to see and experience how I felt and honestly, I agree with her. When writing I never actually left the readers with an image, I would just say things and expect them to understand. As a writer that is something in which you can not do. You have to expect the readers to not understand and it is your goal to make them understand because that’s what writing is all about. Writing is about telling your story, and telling your story is about getting heard, and getting heard is about being as vivid as possible, and being as vivid as possible is about showing the readers rather than just telling them and honestly, I want to be able to show my readers why what I say is important, and why they need to hear what I’m saying. I want to be confident in my writing and that is something that I feel as if is important for me to take with me in writing. Earlier in the semester I wrote and just wrote without thinking. It’s weird looking back at my work and reading it because even in my letter to self which was an assignment in which I had to write a letter to myself. Looking back at the letter I was even unorganized then. I talked about things in which I wished rather than the things I needed to do. I was more confused on how to inform, persuade, and even tell the reader, but now I understand the concept of writing, and why it is so important in which was something I never questioned enough before. My favorite assignment was most definitely unit 3. The idea of creative writing is intriguing to me. For that unit I wrote a poem where I basically talked about how the media is dangerous when it comes to the idea of a “criminal” in today’s society. I never actually did a poem before and to be honest I hate poems. Like they have always been the hardest thing for me to write only because it has been hard for me to smoothly write. Before I would write like this and I quote “Life was has been a distant memory”, but now I would say, “As I reached the bridge between Love, Pride, Friendship, and trust I’m trapped between the door between reality and a dream because within ever step I made 10 stories went missing in my head”. As I write in hopes to have the readers understand and question me because that is another key point when it comes to being a writer.  Some noticeable lessons would be to think about the reader when writing. Usually when I would write I would never actually think like a reader. Instead I would just write like a writer. Like I said before I would hope that people understand what I was talking about. When you are a writer the goal is to put all your knowledge together from being a scholar, reader, and writer because that is how you become a better writer just by opening your mind. I am proud to say that now a days I am able to think like a reader, scholar, and writer which has helped me become better and I thank Professor Hall for that. A notable lesson that will forever be stuck with me after completing many of my assignments would be to not be all over the place when writing. In the future I plan on being a criminal defense lawyer to help the people who have happen to be wrongfully imprisoned. When having to defend someone I need to be organized and know exactly where to place things and how to place it or else I would be a terrible lawyer, and that is something that I do not one. So being in a class that helps benefit me like in this class it really continued to inspire me to follow my dreams. When I first started this semester, I would throw information in without explaining it and even throw words in that did not make sense.  All the classes that I took this semester honestly help me become better at understanding, speaking, and persuading and I’m glad that I did not drop out. I feel like because of Covid it was hard for me to put my all in the work honestly it still is hard but I feel like I am doing way better now with my organization. When coming in I would revise my work so I already knew what to do and how to do it but my teachers from high school would never really go over it again more like skim it, and they would tell me I did a good job even though it never felt good. Looking back at my work I was a terrible writer so I feel as if they have been lying to me my whole life and that sucks, but professor hall I could tell that she actually read my work, and cared about what I had to say and that is important to me. I do not think I was given much peer feedback, and when I did, I think they was just doing it for the grade so nothing really stick out to me.  The most challenging of this semester would probably be the fact that I was not physically in school. Being at home and working from home its extremely hard to stay focus or even keep hope. Like my whole life is passing before me and there is nothing that I can possibly do about it which sucks. Like I have a very bad issue when it comes to procrastination, and I have always felt unmotivated and covid has not made anything better but recently I applied for this scholarship, that as a result I cannot afford to fail, but honestly this has been stressful for me and probably for everyone but one thing I can say is that I tried my best.

Revision for Unit 1

For Revising unit one my goal was to fix the issues. When writing my unit one I was all over the place. I was unorganized, confused, and was confusing the readers. When looking back at my work and hearing feedback from Professor Hall I completely agree with what she was saying. I did not put much background information, or even put it out there on what the purpose was for me to write this. As a result of that when re-writing my unit one my goal is to give the readers a purpose to reading. Give them my opinion on education, and be specific on what I am writing this for.

Unit 1

The thought of sitting in class pen to paper has always been a very difficult task, never because I did not want to write I just never felt the need to write. When it comes down to Writing it has always been my personal way of finding myself. In writing I am able to be vulnerable, a hero, a villain, and even the version of myself I refuse to show because in the end of each story, essay, and poem no one knows unless you tell them, and that’s the reason to why I love writing. When it comes to writing I always felt as if my goal was to write about something I cared about or even something that I thought people should know, hear, and feel. When it comes to school it always seemed as if the English curriculum failed me. They failed me because within everything I was told to write it just never seemed to sit right because I never cared for what I was told to write, I more cared about the importance of my thoughts, and emotions being able to be broadcast to the world but kept secret. The English curriculum always based themselves on things that just did not interest me. I never was able to show the creative side that pleaded for me to let out and I hated the idea of school because of it. I would have to write essays on things that was considered as important just because I live in America. Write paragraphs on why I used a certain strategy in math. Write things that I did not really care about, not because I don’t care about the history but because it was a history that many individuals changed throughout the years or even try to leave out. I was trapped in a endless cycle of misinformation from learning that Christopher Columbus founded “America” to learning that we live on stolen land, but as of today we still celebrate Christopher Columbus for “finding the land”. It was all so confusing and it did not make sense. As they teach slavery, and teach segregation, and teach the struggles that people face on a daily we still allow people in white to threaten the lives of many. We sell confederate flags in which people say it is not a bad thing but have males dressed in white hanging black males in front of them. We see statues of white males, and those exact white males are the ones who owned slaves and fought for slavery, and etc. Then we learn about Y=Mx+B and as of today I have yet to use such an equation. As I grow older school has always been something in which I was told one thing just to be misguided in the future, and that has always been something in which puzzled me. As a result, I have learned that I have stories in which I want to share, stories in which I hope people can relate to but in high school I always felt as if school was something forced, and made to misguide you in the future.

Urban Assembly for Law and Justice told me to wake up prepared to learn. As I scrambled out of bed, into the shower, into clothes that was uncomfortable, skipping breakfast, and onto a bus. It was an experience in which I repeated for years. As I walked into a building sleepy from the day before due to family issues, and work that teachers provide me the day before I was trapped in an endless cycle of depression that never quite budged. My problem was that I always thought learning was something in which they wanted the people who they taught to be interested in, or even find away for the students to want to learn more, or even care more. Maybe I got the wrong memo because the more I hoped for high school to end the more I went falling in the lines between meet, and did not meet, but even then I still felt as if even though teachers told me I had met the these expectations set aside in the end I had no clue on what I really did or how I did it. Instead I searched the walls, and books for guidance because what I did not learn or what did not interest me was something that ended up being up to me to complete.

As I sat in silence hearing the screeching of the marker tracing the board, I looked out the window hoping that maybe just maybe I would be able to see more than I was given because while I was still able to see I never really felt as if I was seeing much these days.

Then again I want to be able to tell the story of my 1stparent teacher conference, and how my math teacher cared more about bullying me rather then teaching me.

It was a chilly afternoon of my freshman year. As the sun began to disappear into the clouds, and as we lined up waiting to enter into a building in which my mom called school, I traveled the halls of the familiar faces, and wish that I could just disappear. My mom turned the corner as students and teachers filled her hands with information about me, they gave her my report card, and things that was supposed to determine the kind of student I am. In which I always thought was weird being that they are giving out “my information, without me even giving them any information to begin with. As we roamed the halls going in and out the classroom conferencing with different teachers about my behavior in school, and my grades. So far, all the teachers had great things to say like I was “on task” and “quiet” being that it was my 1st year in high school, and I did not know anyone so there was not much to say to anybody. I did my work and stayed on task, and asked question when needed but otherwise I kept to myself. Soon after we roamed the halls walking into individuals who were happy with their children and others who were not, I strolled the hall alongside my mother hearing the laughs, and hearing the yells of parents looking in the eyes of their child, I was stuck in the in between my mom being proud but questioning if she should really be proud. My mom was not happy nor mad, but instead chill. It was something I expected with my mother where she would just remain calm and neutral until she finished with the whole parent teacher conference and then boom, she picks and choose if she should get upset or not and I always hoped she didn’t because no one wants her mad.

We soon reached the door of my algebra teacher I was introduced into an array of disappointment. She was such a disappointment in my eyes. As a teacher she believed that student is supposed to understand the things she teaches right away, and that’s not me. She and I clashed a lot due to are different views. She would tell me the reason for me not understanding was because I was talking, and being rude, leaving out the fact that when I asked she always ignored, and when I raised my hand she always ignored, but when I yelled she made sure to call my mom, or the principle. I never knew what the hell she wanted from me because every time I tried with that lady it was as if I was being pushed 10 steps back. As my mom reached the door, I locked eyes with the teacher in which I knew was going to give me the most trouble. She said things in which I couldn’t even believe for myself as my mom nodded intrigued with all of the “new things” that she told her. She said things like ” Your daughter has a hard time listening”, “She does not pay attention to what I am telling her”, “She always has something to say”, “I constantly have to repeat myself to Daziah”,  “Daziah has a hard time staying on task, she always is talking to her friends or partner”. She would say things in which she saw but never cared to ask. I mean she said I was having a hard time without even asking why, and the answer has always remained the same I just did not understand, I will listen, and listen, and ask questions but in the end I was still left with that feeling of being lost in a room without a real guide to help me follow through with what I needed to be done. As my mom sat there in disappointment, she gave me a chance to explain myself. There was so much I wanted to say in such a short amount of time. I wanted to yell scream even. Tell her how I personally believed that she was a horrible person, teacher even. I even wanted to tell her how she was so busy worried about getting money instead of doing her job. She did not care, and she was one of those individuals who around others was such a “loving”, and “caring” person but around people who was not considered as authority in her eyes was someone who she believed that she can walk all over. Hate was a strong word but her actions proved to me that hate is something I should feel, but in the end, who am I to go against, an adult. Things would go badly on my part regardless if I spoke or not because my mom taught me to never ever raise my voice or talk back to an adult, and I guess that was because of the Caribbean in us. She as of today has been the reason to why I the despise math, being that when I needed her for help, she refused me, and left me to fend for myself in a world where math was something that they told me that I needed, but never really felt as if I needed as much as they claimed. She taunts me, she knew I was struggling and it seemed as if he wanted me to. When I reached the 12thgrade she ended up being my math teacher again and let me tell you. She never stopped making my life a living hell I guess that’s what she was supposed to do.

A Short Reviewers Memo

My intentions in writing this piece was to share a experience in which has stuck with me for years and changed my view on teachers, and math. When writing this I did not really have any hopes but I guess I kind of wondered if there has been others who had faced a teacher or teachers in which tried to prove so hard that they knew who we was as a person without actually knowing anything. I guess I want people to take away from this is maybe that maybe it would be better to stick up for yourself. I think I am having most trouble with giving more imagery, having the readers get a sense of how I look the room look, my mother’s expressions, and things like that. Also I know my grammar is probably terrible. I guess I need help with the things that I have listed above. When reading this can you all highlight the parts that confuse you. Maybe the things that you all do not understand or want to hear more of.

-Thank you for your time and patience
Daziah Rowe

Unit 2

Research Question: “How does the media influence our ideas of implicit bias, especially when it comes to ideas of race and criminality.”

As of today, living in a world where technology, and the internet runs the show we are faced with coverage of the world day by day from different standpoints. We live in a world where we base life off of what we see on Tv, what we read on the internet, and how people react on social Media. When reading and hearing about things without doing research it becomes are biggest problem.  The media is a place where people are able to spread awareness to the different types of things that takes place all over.  Some of the information can be true and some could be false at the end of the day it is filled with different types of biases, and misinformation of touchy subjects. Explaining and breaking down the truth of the media we will be able to establish a sense of what is true and what happens to be false. This is important because people are becoming less and less aware about what the purpose of the media is which is to persuade an audience into believing what they want them to hear or what they believe people should hear. Day by Day some individuals use the media as a way to put fear into individuals’ hearts. They use the media to paint criminals as a certain race, victims as a certain job, or a certain gender, and they paint a certain race as something superior.  As a result, the people who view these certain types of the media are persuaded to fear the individuals that are broadcasted as the criminals. The ones who views certain bias kinds of media often react in ways which can be something positive or negative, but majority of the time they react in a negative way, which can be in a physical or in a mental way. When it comes to the media people need to be more aware to what they are looking at it, or where they get their information from. Media is something that majority human beings rely on whether is to get information or for entertainment.  Regardless Media is what people look to, and being that many people look to media many people have also been brainwashed by the media. In my research question I am focusing more on news channels meaning CNN, and Fox News, which are both talking about the same topics, but I want to focus on how they broadcast what is going to their audience.

For example, when watching certain news Channels like Fox New compared to CNN we see the same things that are happening but worded differently, which can influence ideas of implicit bias when it comes to ideas of race and criminality. While researching this questionmy goal is to bring awareness to how the media portrays certain individuals, and how they inflict their biases on to a certain race. I want to be able to compare two news channels talking about the same topic, in order to be able to portray how the media picks and choose how they want to convey certain topics, certain races to be exact. Finding information in which would not help my case if I find it useful, I would still use it being that I would be able to write about it. Having different standpoints on my topic is important in portraying how certain News channels are made to manipulate people and force their political views or views in general on individuals who get their information from them. In all honesty there is no pros to instilling a negative point of view of a certain group of people just to bring false awareness. I do not understand how people can say we live in a world of peace and inequality if some major news channels as of today are constantly picking and choosing who they give equality and bring peace to.  Being that my question is based around the media. I’m going to base it around the most popular news channels known in America. I will be comparing two different news channels but on the same topic. So this information is considered as good being that they are straight from the biggest channels out.

Asmelash, Leah. “How Black Lives Matter Went from a Hashtag to a Global Rallying Cry.” CNN, Cable News Network, 26 July 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/07/26/us/black-lives-matter-explainer-trnd/index.html.

In “How black lives matter went from a hashtag to a global rallying cry” by Asmelash Leah as reporter of CNN she writes an article that talks, about what many mediasdo not want to talk about.Meaning she talks about a topic in which most medias have a negative bias on. CNN is one of the few medias in which tries to limit as much of their biases as possible where they try to hear all standpoints. They point out what most individuals are not willing to see or listen to due to the stereotypes that are portrayed of these different races. In my eyes they come off straight with what is happening. In the article they tell their audience what some of other medias refuse to share. They talked about what the black lives matter movement represented. Where they informed the audience that the black lives organization is a movement in which started in order to voice to the public about the injustice that black people face on a daily. Black lives in America have been considered as something of less value in the eyes of America.  Why have they been considered as less value is probably because as of today through movies, books, tv shows, and media in general as a whole they find ways to make blacks/ African Americans the perpetrator to a story in which they did not write. In this article they try to explain how the movement started off by the killing of a young unarmed black teenager by the name of Trayvon Martin.Who was labeled as suspicious based off of the way he looked, he was an African American who had a hoodie on and a bag of skittles in his pocket.  He was shot by a man named George Zimmerman who as of recently is selling the gun that he used to shoot Trayvon Martin for 138,900, and if you are wondering George Zimmerman was acquitted.   CNN helps spread awareness to the purpose of the black lives matter movement which was made to help bring awareness to the injustice that black people face on a daily bases due to the color of their skin, and people like Fox News who labels people who are darker then a paper bag as dangerous and criminals. CNN uses their media to broadcast to the world that there is more to individuals than what people are saying. As of today, we live in a world where people ignore the fact that white privilege exists. CNN is one of the few news channels that speak on the behalf of all, and speak out for the black individuals who care about the injustice that we face. They give the black live matter movement a platform where they can speak out and give an understanding to people all over the world that they are not criminals. Also, they are able to point out the wrongs within in the movement in a way where they do not downplay the race all together. I am not saying that black individuals do not make mistake and are not wrong at some points but CNN voices out what the movement is doing wrong, and what they are doing right. They do not call them killers or label them as criminals though. They allow black individuals to show their intelligence and broadcast to the world that all they want is equality. CNN uses the media in a way in which does not uses their biases like Fox News does but instead they use it giving people an open mind of what it really is. In the article they are able to prove that race, and criminality should not be able to connect back to one race. In the article they made points like:

“BLM’s goal, according to its website, is to eradicate anti-Blackness and create a society where Black people are able to thrive in the US.”

“Police officers are almost four times as likely to use force on Black people than White people. Black people are also jailed at a disproportionate rate. Black Americans have lower access to health careand lack the same access to quality education.

“Folks in the movement have been consistently fighting to reverse that trend, to raise awareness that this is not the way we’re supposed to live,” Scales told CNN”.

 

These three points have stood out to me because looking into the article they make these points in a way to use their platforms in order to preach the importance of not only the black lives matter movement but of the way they should be represented on tv. Reading this article, we are able to get a sense of how this news channel is able to limit their biases as much as possible. They play a role in a positive way. In this article they show how there is more to the Black Lives Matter Movement, and how they should not try to flip this movement into something that it is not.

 

 

 

In this Fox News video O’Reilly sits down and talks to the audience about how black individuals are the ones who are “out of control”. He tells the audience that since the defund the police matter took place, and the police officers have gone on strike crime has gone up due to the black lives matter movement. He explains to the audience that the black lives matter movement is a group of rioters who are causing chaos in the streets of Chicago. He tells his viewers that African American individuals are the real killers. In his video he explains that the black lives matter movement is a movement in which is destroying communities. He later goes on to justify the killings of these unarmed African American victims who are as of today being gun-downed by cops. He gives out the assumption that black people are something in which we should fear. When I mean assumption, he would paint these images which focused on how black males are the main one killing compared to any other race. He goes on to explain to the audience that the black populations are the ones to commit the heinous crimes against other American citizens, and against their own kind. Bill O’ Riley preaches to the audience that African Americans are the real threat in America. He justifies his points with statistics. In these statistics he says that African Americans between “the ages of 14-17 commit homicide at ten times the rate of other teens of different races. To justify that the Black lives matter movement is a scheme to “kill more Americans” he adds in statistics in which “proves” that ” white individuals are the ones who are getting killed more by police officers” which is his way of convincing the audience that the black lives matter movement is overdramatic and dangerous. He then shows a clip in which some group of black live matter protestors go into a place and shout black lives matter. In the video they came off as hostile, they snatched the mic, and one of the girls in the video yelled at the person holding the mic. It’s pretty interesting watching this video being that we see it without any backstory to what lead up to the moment or even before the moment even came about. So, we have no clue on any information about the video or who these people are. Throughout his time in the Fox News video I was able to come to the assumption that Black people are criminals and dangerous and I am a black woman. He gave the perception that all Black lives matter protestors was hostile and rude to any kind of authority or any kind of race even their own. I get that vibe that black people do not care about anything. This perception of this one video of hostile protestors is what the audience will see, and would think about every black person from all over the world.  People who do not interact with black people and watch the fox news would get the impression that all black people are the same, they will think of them as criminals, dangerous, ignorant, irrational, and all of the negative things know to men. Bill O’ Reilly is preaching about how hostile and irrational these protestors are would have viewers believe him. He paints this idea of Black people being the voice and image of what a criminal is, and how they sound like. Unlike CNN where thy voiced-out people from the movement, and what are pros, and cons about the black lives movement Bill O’ Riley did the opposite. Instead he came online to about millions of viewers and told them to basically fear the movement, and fear black people because they are murders compared to all races.

Fox News has influenced our ideas of implicit bias, especially when it comes to ideas of race and criminality being that they show a certain perception of a group of people painting them as something that they are actually not. Fox News is one of the media channels who instill hate, and strong hurtful biases of black individuals.  They bring their audience fear. Fear is a root too are current problems and fear as a result can lead to serious problems where people can be hurt, arrested, and can end up dead. This lived aired video viewed by everyone in the world gives an image in which people should fear black individuals because they are the “cause” to all “criminal” events that are happening in the world.This clip of one of Fox News; News reporter is an example of how media influence our ideas of implicit bias especially when it comes to ideas of race and criminality. Bill O Riley projects his views as a white man living as of today. He expresses the fear of the Black Lives Matter movement. His bias is allowing people to continue to base criminals to a certain race which is African American individuals. In an article I read by Fox News they try to justify cops, people who are killing unarmed black males by saying that the black lives matter movement shouldn’t be a movement basically because of black on black crime. As of today O’ Riley in his interview establish from off jump that African Americans are criminals. He brings up statistics from an unknown source in which he uses to  try to justify why African Americans should be arrested , and basically should be stopped. He uses statistics which are saying that white individuals are the ones who are being arrested more than the African Americans .He uses that statistic to try and prove that the police as of today are doing nothing wrong , and how African Americans are getting arrested because they are in the wrong.  He then goes on to say that crime rates have went up due to the black lives matter movement due to the defund the police situation. He tries to tell the media that African American individuals are the threat in which cops need to eliminate. He starts off with saying “Black lives matter movement is killing Americans”. Reading and hearing that phrase from the jump you can make the assumption that African Americans are the one who are the cause and root to all problems. When a person only watches Fox News, they are getting biases in which are labeling certain groups as the predators, and how people should protect themselves.  Bill O Riley classify black individuals as suspicious, in his news broadcast he says “The Chicago police no longer stop suspicious people” then goes on to say ” Black males between ages 14 &17 commit homicide at ten times the rate than white and Hispanics teens combined”.He labels African Americans as the criminals. This implicit bias as a whole compares African Americans to criminals. He uses his media to try and prove to the public that African Americans are Americans biggest threat. He then forgot to add the number of black individuals who are wrongfully committed of murder. Did you know that black people are 7 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder compared to a white person?He uses his media to broadcast his thoughts and his wrong statistics in order to convince people that black individuals are the ones who people should fear, and as a result of that people tend to react in a way in which puts African Americans in danger, and is one of the reasons to why the black lives matter movement continues to stand tall.

Part 1

A.

  1. News, F., 2017. Charlottesville White Nationalist Rally Blamed For 3 Deaths, Dozens Of Injuries. [online] Fox News. Available at: <https://www.foxnews.com/us/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-blamed-for-3-deaths-dozens-of-injuries> [Accessed 12 August 2017].

B.

Yan, H. and Sayers, D., 2017. Charlottesville White Nationalist Rally: What We Know. [online] CNN. Available at: <https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/13/us/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-car-crash/index.html> [Accessed 14 August 2017].

Part 2.

A.

In this article Fox News writes how “supposedly the white supremacist” group are the ones who are in charge of the killings, and injuries in Charlottesville . They go on to blame both sides of the riot saying the they are both at fault. They explain how trump and many government officials spoke out saying that both sides were in the wrong.

B.

In this article CNN writes how the white supremacy group has been the main problem for a long time but has been overlooked because no one wants to admit to white privilege. When it came to the removal of the confederate monument. They talk about how many people all over did not agree with the violence that these white supremacy groups have started. They’ll out these white supremacy groups for what they are which are hateful people They announce to the worlds of the dangers of these groups.

 

Part 3.

A.

Throughout the Fox News article, they put quotation marks around white supremacy as if it Is something that is not known. They use these quotations to denounce these groups in my eyes. They even use the title “Charlottesville White national rally blamed for 3 deaths, dozen injuries” This title in my eyes makes people believe that the white supremacy movement was not the one who committed these crimes being that they use the word “blamed”.  When someone uses the word blame it means that they are the ones who are being held responsible for these certain acts its kind of like they are being held responsible but are not the ones who actually did it like false accusations in a way. This article as a whole kind of tries to tell a half story blaming both sides equally. Fox News use their media to tell a side in which they try to say how both parties were reckless, while the many who were injured during the riot was majority of the counter protesters who wanted the statue to come down.  In this article as I read it, I get this sense that they are basically saying that they had reasons to act the way they do. They give this sense of them being unsure of what is going on.

B.

In the article the CNN writes how pro white organizations are very dangerous. They explain how may government officials feel as if these pro white groups are dangerous and I agree. These Pro white groups are made to incite violence on people of different races. Their goal is to incite hate against these different groups which makes them dangerous. CNN also goes to explain that they are dangerous, and how many government officials believe that they need to come together to try and dismantle these hate groups. CNN also doesn’t place all blame on the white nationalist groups. They place blame on the law officers, and some government officials being that they did not ensure the safety of both parties. They give a sense of them knowing what they are talking about, and gives the full truth. They also explain how it started off as a non-violent protest, before both parties clashed and ended up in altercations. We begin to see that a white nationalist then goes on to kill 1 and injure many by running into counter protestors.

Part 4

A.

“Charlottesville white nationalist rally blamed for 3 deaths, dozens of injuries”

“Right-wing blogger Jason Kessler had planned what he called a “pro-white” rally to protest Charlottesville’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a city park.”

“In May, a torch-wielding group that included prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer gathered around the statue for a nighttime protest, and in July, about 50 members of a North Carolina-based KKK group traveled there for a rally, where they were met by hundreds of counter-protesters”

B.

“We have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo-Nazis or the KKK,” the vice president said while in Cartagena, Colombia. “These dangerous fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”

“We come to you this morning to reassure you that the Commonwealth of Virginia and all of us that are in this together will not and do not condone white supremacists that brought their hatred and bigotry to the Commonwealth of Virginia,”

“The blame for today’s (Saturday’s) violence lies primarily with Charlottesville government officials and the police officers who failed to maintain law and order, protect the First Amendment rights of rally participants, and provide for their safety,”

My Research question is important to me because as a African American Women living in a world where I watch people who remind me of a brother, a cousin, a sister, an aunt, and etc. I come in connect with many News channels , and many videos where African Americans are being held down, and killed in the hands of people who job was to protect us, or killed by the hands of people who the media told them to protect themselves from. When researching this question, I wanted to find maybe an answer or maybe even a reason to why some medias use their network to communicate this idea of African Americans being the main focus when it comes to “criminality”. As a result of media, they create certain groups for certain people which is a negative thing especially being that many people live in certain places where they cannot interact with all races, and by media labeling a certain group as criminals it becomes a major issue which results in deaths of innocent women, men, and children, also the arrest of many innocent Women, Men, and Children.

 

Bibliography Entry:

Bridgette Baldwin, BLACK, WHITE, AND BLUE: BIAS, PROFILING, AND POLICING IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER, 40 W. New Eng. L. Rev. 431 (2018), https://digitalcommons.law.wne.edu/lawreview/vol40/iss3/4

A Summary:

In the Article BLACK, WHITE AND BLUE: BIAS, PROFILING, AND POLICING IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER, by Bridgette Baldwin the author explains how implicit bias and the idea of African Americans being “criminals” is something in which has been passed down from centuries. As a result of that the author tells the readers that media also plays a positive, and negative role to that. The author explains how the media plays a positive role when it comes down to recording and sharing the injustice that African Americans face when it comes not only from cops, racist, and individuals in which the media influence to fear people of color. Bridgette Baldwin explains to the audience that the injustice that African Americans face is real, and is something in which should not be controversial being that it is something we see through these videos where they shoot unarmed black men , woman,  and kids. She tales about how the media would forever have a impact on the way African Americans are viewed, and how these stereotypes are something in which would forever characterize African American individuals as the real threat of America.

A Reflection:

When reading this article, I agree with the author because media as of today can have a positive and a negative impact on society. The media as of today broadcast to millions of people from everywhere these topics where people are taught that African Americans are dangerous compared to any other race. he author talks about how not only media but shows, movies, and songs has an impact on how people are viewed. Majority of the time African Americans are painted as criminals, thugs, abusers, prostitutes, ghetto, and so on. There has been a list of stereotypes that was made for black people in which as of today has affected the way that we are viewed.  When flipping through News channels, News articles , and Videos shared on my time line on Facebook , twitter, and even Instagram I am thrown with innocent African American people who are being made a mockery of. As of today people blame Tamir Rice parents for letting the 12 year old boy play with a toy gun outside, they blame Eric Gardner for not “complying” they blame Trayvon Martin for “looking Suspicious “, they blame Sandra Bland for ” speaking up against the injustice that she was facing”, and they blamed the death of Ahmaud Arbery for ” looking suspicious while jogging” . As of today they blame the victims of these terrible killing, or even say it was a mistake on their part but not actually admitting to the “mistake on their part” . While Dylan Roof a white supremacist walked into a African American church and killed 9 innocent people, upon his arrest they later took the killer to Burger King before taking him to jail, Or maybe George Zimmerman who shot Trayvon Martin a unarmed black teen, he was later taken to trial but later was pronounced innocent, and as of today is trying to sell the gun that he use to kill Trayvon Martin. When looking at Dylan Roof people are more so influenced to the idea that white individuals are not criminals, even while Dylan Roof was on trial they blamed it on “Mental Illness even then Dylan Roof stated that he was proud of what he did. They tried finding ways around it , but hen it comes down to a African American Individuals they always find a way to label them as the criminal.  When speaking of the media and these ideas of Implicit Biases we are seen that African Americans who have not did anything wrong are more likely to be put in a life or death situation unlike the many other races of people who are seen committing a terrible act. As a result of that the media for example Fox News is a media that is broadcast all around the world openly that black people are the real criminals of America. It scares me being that at any time of the day someone can paint me as a criminal or maybe as a threat due to the color of my skin, or even paint one of  my family members, my friends, and my family friends as a threat and that could be the end of us only because the media has been influencing people that because I am black I am a criminal.

Quotable:

“Racial profiling allows certain ideas about behavior to be associated with a group of people simply because of racial identity. In the 1980s, African American mothers were profiled as welfare queens, which signified their hyper-sexuality and laziness.25 African American youth in the late 1990s were described as super-predators, which signified their criminality.26 The phenomenon that put racial profiling on the map, *436 “driving while black,” justified the overzealous roadside stops of African American motorists based on the view that black drivers were(…)”

“When it comes to minority suspects, police officers are more likely to use excessive force to initiate a stop or make an arrest. Minority suspects, particularly African American males, are perceived as more threatening, less compliant, and more violent. The linking of blackness to criminality will shape whether an unarmed African American will be shot when confronted during a traffic stop3”

“Yet, while these horrible acts of violence are made visible on computer and cell phone screens across the country, the meaning of these violent acts remains contested. We must remember that even the meaning of real-time reporting is never self-evident and that these visual images of violence are shaped by an older racial logic that continues to justify the killing of black people.”

“While thousands saw Eric Garner get choked to death, many responded that it was his poor health that killed him.47 When Cleveland police rolled up on twelve-year-old Tamir Rice and opened fire without asking a question, many responded that his parents should have taught him to take better care of a toy gun.48 The underlying theme in the interpretation of these racial assaults has been a notion of “noncompliance” by these African American victims.”

 

 

 

In my research I was able to come to the conclusion that media is something in which determines a lot. As of today, individuals use media to figure out what happens in the world. Media is something everyone uses. There are different kinds of sources in which people get their information from or things they watch to get their information from like the different news channels. I used Fox News and CNN in order to establish the two different news channels that talked about the same story. I compared CNN views on the Black Lives Matter Movement and Fox News views on the Black Lives Matter movement. Overall, we are able to see how one news cast gives negative imputes on a certain group of individuals and also gives a negative impact on the group as a whole and another news cast who has people from the black lives matter movement speak up for what the movement really is and not the media switching it to be something that is not. They also point out the wrongs in the movement and give the audience a chance to decide whether they believe the movement is something bad or not. While fox news does not give them a chance to decide whether or not the movement, Is bad instead they make the audience believe right away that they are terrible. The black lives matter movement is not a movement in which we preach pro black instead It is a movement in which we try to justify that black lives matter as much as white lives and any other race. Fox News uses its broadcast to say that black people are criminals, murders, and etc. They give their biases in which they use the black race to determine criminality being that they say that back people are the real criminals of America. While CNN use its media to broadcast that criminality shouldn’t be something in which is determine by the color of a person’s skin which I agree with. Fox News was not able to call these white supremacist organization out as much as they called the black lives matter movement out and their goal is to incite hate against individuals who are not 100% white, or pro white. As a whole they use their media to incite fear against individuals who watch them. It is important that everyone should do more research than what they see on the news or read in an article because now of days people use the media to label certain groups in order to hide from the truth within America. Watching Bill O Riley video was extremely surprising to me. I say that this video was surprising to me because instead of using media to incite positivity he uses his stand to tell how a certain race is basically the only criminals out now. He also called African Americans suspicious.  These News channels and media overall is something that people shouldn’t not play with at all, Fox New uses their platform to try and justify police killing black unarmed individuals. It’s scary being a black woman with a younger brother, who has to prepare him for a life where America turn their backs on people that look like me and him. It is extremely important for people to do their research on certain topics especially race or gender topics because these implicit biases can lead to something bigger. They tell us to fear African Americans and not fear the man who goes out with the intent to incite hate on people because they look a certain way. They try to turn their back from the major issue here which is the fact that Racism is real, and inequality is something that many people face on a daily basis.  I feel like everyone knows this already but is scared to admit the truth. The black live matter preach on a daily basis that are lives should be equivalent to any other race life on a daily basis and they use the media to switch it around to try and make it look like we are the animals and the criminals when we are trying to be the voices for the many individuals who have lost their lives due to the injustice within the system.  The media as a whole is a positive and negative thing people learn from the media. As a result of that people should be more careful of their intentions. Media is not a place where we blame a group of people for certain things and then broadcast to the world that that race is all criminal and all sorts of negative thing. They use the black lives matter movement to say that they incite hate, and are people in which we should be scared of while they have these white supremacy groups out here killing people, and broadcasting hate with no one really speaking up about it. As a whole there is no race that is a criminal and people with large fan bases or a huge audience should not be throwing out their biases like its nothing.

Unit 3

When revising my unit 3 poem. I followed the advice that professor Hall gave me. When I was re-reading my poem for myself, I was able to see how I can confuse my readers. There was times where I would forget to add a word, or add a word that did not need to be added. Then there are lines in which confused the concept of my poem. I had so much grammar mistakes, and just I felt as if before I revised it I kind of seen it to be a little all over the place. I also took professor hall advice and added my 1stcouple lines to the end because it sounded so right.

 

Dark side of life

By: Daziah Rowe

They say before you die your life flashes before your eyes.

The nightmares, the fears, the dreams, and the defeat faces you all at once, as your soul leaves your body.

As your heart throbs at a fast pace before slowly becoming faint, and you realize

It was All, For Nothing at All

How about this.

As you walk down a street where you are faced with people from TV with pale skin, and blue eyes, they glare, and stare because you are something in which they fear.

Fear the color of your skin

The Shape of your nose

The style you wear

The sway of your hips,

And the confidence they tell you to have, but told shush down when your around people like them.

You throw your hood over your head to avoid them.

They paint you as an animal, a beast of the night looking for your next prey.

As you hear O Riley’s voice boom in your local coffee shop in the unknown area telling those pale skin and blue eyes to arm up against these predators,

You scan the room trying to find who, but can only see those opposite colored eyes faced with yours, as the hair on the back of your neck stands up

When all you wanted to do is go home to the ones you love.

You are trapped now

They bash you, hurtful words, and screams and yells are thrown in your face from a people you barely know.

As those call for the cops scared of something in which they were told you was capable of when in fact you weren’t understanding of.

As the sirens ring and you are trapped in the corner just because you are “suspicious”

As those same men come into the coffee shop screaming at the only colored person in the room, they shoot first, and ask questions later.

We raise our hand and scream please don’t hoot as they yell and scream and suddenly we fall to the floor and are left with 7 holes in are chest.

As they walk over your body and tell the world that “it was a mistake”

As I watch from a distance, girls like me, but loud, sometimes scary, angry, violent, and men who share the same color as me with guns, anger, and eager to kill are plastered on my tv screen

You look for Love, Compassion, and maybe even a chance of Clarity to why they put you in a category of people in which you never met, seen, or even interacted with

I watch the News, I am faced with people who look like me as criminals, Monsters even.

Did I forget to inform you?

Age does not matter when you are in the skin that you’re in.

As they shoot the 12-year-old black kid who only ever wanted to be was a cop.

Maybe when they shot a man who was big as a giant fearful of his color and size that they grasped so tight and forgot that he too was human.

As he screamed that he could not breathe, but those screams were mistaken.

As my Tv Screen plastered that because he had a history, he was a monster already.

As I watched a black man on the floor with a pale man’s knee on his neck

As they painted the unarmed man as a criminal killing him in front of his girlfriend and kids.

Maybe the black man who was jogging in a white man’s area, and was painted as the thief who later was shot and killed.

You are raised watching your race label you as a monster and you start to believe that maybe you are what they preach.

As I protest black lives do indeed matter but are only faced with a protest to my protest.

I am just an 18-year-old girl with dreams and goals, and raised with manners, and dignity

But on fox news they protest that I am a thug, and am lazy

I am left wondering maybe if I am what I See on TV Screens.

They label my mom as a welfare lady, My brother as a criminal, my sister as ghetto, and me as loud

As I watch these stereotypes of me and my family, I see that I am nowhere connected to the stereotypes around me

The media has convinced people to hate, and fear people like me, and in the end every day I start to believe that maybe they won because change has always seemed to be farther away then they preach.

They say before you die your life flashes before your eyes

The nightmares, the fears, the dreams, and the defeat faces you all at once, as your soul leaves your body

As your heart throbs at a fast pace before slowly becoming faint, and you realize

It was All, For Nothing at All

 

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Writing this poem giving a standpoint on black lives, and my life all together I have come to the conclusion that white individuals look into are lives without understanding are lives if that makes sense. People learn things either they watch the news or they hear it from family or friends, social medias, and things like that.  As a result of that depending on what they are watching or who they are getting their information from people are getting these standpoints that black people are someone in which people need to protect themselves from. This interest me because every day I have been seeing movies in which they portray black individual as thief, killers, and all of the negative things above and as a result of that it has affected my life and many other especially since my name is not ” white ” enough to be hired. The aspect of my poem is to try and have the audience feel what many innocent black individuals felt as they have been gun downed over reasons in which did not make sense. I want people who have a higher authority when it comes down to the media to be aware that what they say is how another person can lose their life. What they are preaching is another way in which people end up fearing us. I want people to understand that I am a black woman with goals and dreams, and I should not be put in a group in which in my eyes does not exist because I cannot relate to it. I want them to stop making me fear for my brothers, and cousins lives just because certain medias preach that people should which causes them to act irrational when they are put in a situation where they are near a person who share the same color as me. Honestly working on this project is interesting because there has been plenty of times, I did not know what to say because I did not understand what I should say but because I did not know how to word it properly or in a professional matter. In this topic honestly, I learned how dangerous the media is. I learned how oblivious people can be to the issue of black lives, and how much little power, and say that black individuals have. There have been countless times where I felt as if I wasn’t good enough due to how the media has portrayed of me and my family.

Yadira’s Final Portfolio & Reflection

Revision for Unit 1: I fixed my sentence fragments. Also removed any unnecessary sentences that sounded repetitive.

      My alarm went off at 6:50 am. I woke up and went to eat breakfast with my parents and my older brother. Later I had to go get dressed into my navy blue polo shirt and khaki pants uniform. After getting everything I needed for school I finally got my backpack and left for school. Some days I would walk with my mom to school or she would drive me to school. But today we walked because we had enough time before school started. Also, my middle school wasn’t far, it’s about 10 minutes away from home. Later in the course of walking to school, my mom and I regretted it because it was really hot outside that day. Which we should have figured because it was the beginning season of summer. Once we got to school my mom would give me 10 dollars for lunch then we would say bye to each other. Then I would walk up a small hill of my school’s entrance and enter school. After passing my school’s security, I would go directly to the cafeteria, where I would meet my friends and talk for a little. 

       Later when it was time to go to our first class we would be dismissed from the cafeteria directly go to our classes. In between my 5 period class, a teacher would come into my art class and would ask my art teacher for me, which at first was a bit confusing why I was being pulled out of my class. Once I left the room with the teacher she explained to me that she was a speech teacher and the reason why she pulled me out of my class was that I was enrolled to take speech classes. When I asked why I was in a speech the reason was that at my home my parents mainly speak Spanish, which makes English, not my first language, said the teacher. Although that didn’t seem right, because I didn’t know anything in Spanish neither did I speak it. The only language I knew was English. I only spoke English at home and my brother would actually be my translator to my parents. I felt a little discriminated against, I was put into a speech class just because my parents are Hispanic and mainly speak Spanish and not English at home. Doesn’t allow them to assume that I didn’t know or understand English. They shouldn’t have based my English language knowledge on my family and what they speak or where they’re from.

      In that period of time, I didn’t really enjoy it so much because it would make me feel different from everyone else. Being pulled out of my regular classes to get into speech class. Being separated from my other classmates would make me feel so self-conscious about myself, I would doubt how I’m not smart enough. I was being taught basic English words and how to pronounce them as if I didn’t speak English. In the speech classroom, I noticed there were other students also there. Everyone in the classroom where people from different countries that recently entered the school, which actually needed help to learn how to speak and understand the English language. Other students there were like me put into that class because in their homes there’s another language spoken instead of English. Then I realized the point and purpose of this speech class. It was meant to help students individually for those whose first language isn’t English.

       However, I didn’t agree with how they chose which students had to attend speech class. It is actually not fair and discriminating against those that shouldn’t be in it. I see how people from other countries that don’t speak English at all can actually see it as very helpful and it is. Although other students like me didn’t see it the same way. Well for me in particular because I was born in the United States and raised in New York. I was raised with the English language, not the Spanish language. Which makes it unfair that just because they knew that at my home Spanish is spoken more than English.  Which seemed discriminating to me because they’re putting me in a class that teaches me English just because my parents don’t speak English at home. Which shouldn’t mean anything to them because I’m attending school. My knowledge and whether I understand the English language is not based on what my parents speak. But based on my hard work and accomplishments in school. 

       I agree that sometimes it’s hard to understand the English language, but I’m a kid that is also learning with my other classmates at school. Throughout the course, I will obviously make mistakes. Not all kids learn in the same past as others, which is normal. I’m learning more and more about the English language. In the process, I will develop more and more my English language and techniques that will make me better in reading and writing skills. I didn’t see the need to put me to the side and treat me differently as if I didn’t know anything at all of the English languages compared to my other classmates. I started to get embarrassed every time my speech teacher would come into my class and call me out to leave. Having to leave my regular class to go to another that I shouldn’t be in. This would make it seem as if my other classmates were smarter than me. This is what they create by having these separate classrooms from regular classrooms. I wasn’t being treated as equal to my other classmates. When I should be because I don’t see a difference in what is or not spoken at my home. The only thing that should matter is that I’m attending school. Throughout school, I will keep growing and strengthening my English language. If along the way I’m struggling then I think my teachers should help me along the way. But not separate me from my regular classes and make me feel less than others.

Revision foe Unit 2:

I fixed my sentence fragments. Also any minor grammar errors.

      My research question is what is the current situation for undocumented families crossing the United States with children? The reason why I chose this question is that I’m actually very interested to know what situation there in. I have been seeing a lot through the news and some on social media. How these families are being treated unfairly and being held for an extremely long period of time. This is why I chose this question because in my research I want to go in-depth and find out what’s actually happening after being caught at the border.

      My expectations to find in my research is that some type of injustice is happening with these undocumented families. For example, children are being separated from their parents. Also, either parent or children get any information about each other where about. Which I find very unfair because these children need their parents because they are too young to be alone. Where children have to defend themselves as individuals when they’re just kids. The reason why I think I may find this in my research is because of past information that I have already seen. However, I hope to find that everything is being taken care of in the correct manner. Hopefully that these undocumented families and children are being treated as they should. 

      If in my research I find information that goes against my expectations I will still write about it. Mostly because either if it’s positive or negative it’s still information, which is good to know about. Being informed of good or bad information allows us to be aware of what’s going on in our society. Which results in influencing our way of thinking on certain topics. Where this allows us to make changes when we see it’s most needed. This is also my purpose for my research paper to show and provide awareness of these situations. Where we can acknowledge these undocumented families. If so help them as little with making their situation heard. However, some genres that might give good information for my research paper are newspapers, novels, and videos. All these can help me find and understand more of my research questions. Which can provide me with strong evidence for my research paper. For example, newspaper and video both can show me an outside perspective. Compared to a novel that can be written by a person that has experienced it in real life.

      Domonoske, Camila, and Richard Gonzales. “What We Know: Family Separation And ‘Zero Tolerance’ At The Border.” NPR, NPR, 19 June 2018, www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621065383/what-we-know-family-separation-and-zero-tolerance-at-the-border.

       In this article, it states what happens after families are caught at the border. Children are separated immediately from their parents from the moment they get caught in the border of Mexico and Texas. In early May over 2,342 children had been separated from their parents. Based on the article, parents don’t know any information about their children after their separation. Although they were sent to a detention center where they are in holding cells. After three days these children go from immigration detention to the Office of Refugees Resettlement. Where they help contact any other family members of each child to take them in. ICE and ORR have worked together to set up a hotline for parents and children to keep in contact. However, when requested asylum at the port, entry from families are meant to stay together. Although it’s reported that they do not follow this right to immigrate families. Eventually, President Trump signed an executive order reversing his policy of separating families.

     After reading this article I disagree with how the U.S Department of Homeland Security is controlling these immigrant families. Although most of the fault is on a current president which created this law to separate parents and children at the border. This isn’t clearly a good idea because these children need to be with their parents in situations like these. According to the article, “ORR says children remain at these shelters for “fewer than 57 days on average.” However some children have been kept detained for months longer than that, and some advocates say certain facilities improperly administer psychotropic medications”. Within these detention centers, children are going through these harsh processes alone with no parental comfort. This proves how these young children are being psychologically traumatized. However, I don’t understand how Trump signed an executive order reversing his policy of separating families. Although it’s good news to hear that now families that are detained at the borders can stay together. My question is why to change now after having families and children suffer from separation from each loved one. Although to better understand this article I need to find more information from the government and their illegal procedures. Overall, this article answers my question but still needs more information to back my research question.

      In this article, I liked some rhetorical factors the authors used, like pictures of the current children’s situation in these detention centers. One thing I mainly like that caught my attention was when they proved evidence, it wasn’t only reports of what people have said and stated. Although they cited other websites, that were linked in their writing that backed up their evidence.

      “Parents being deported may request that their children leave with them or may decide to leave the children in the U.S. to pursue their own immigration claim, ICE says. For instance, they might suggest another family member in the U.S. sponsor their child, as described above.” 

      News, Global. “The U.S.-Mexico Migrant Crisis: What Is Really Happening at the Border?” Youtube, 22 Aug. 2019, youtu.be/8Ra8udKbHro.

      This video explains what’s really happening at the United States Mexico Border from the beginning where everything started. The data shows how in the last 10 years the number of immigrants crossing the border has changed continuously. After 2014 it has shown more families traveling with children looking for refugee status. Most of these immigrant families are from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras which are from Central America. The international and U.S. law gives the right to any people that show up at the border to request asylum. Asylum can be granted to people or refugees that can not return to their home country because of prosecution. Although in April 2018 Trump announced the zero-tolerance policy. This policy is for any undocumented bordering crossings to be prosecuted criminally. Resulting in separation between parents and their children. These children are kept in tents and weren’t taken care of properly because they have been seen dirty, and haven’t been given enough essentials to be clean and not enough food. Based on the video many people are still coming across the border because they face more danger in their home countries. 

      After viewing this video I disagree with the actions that our president Trump has taken towards immigrants. Mostly because of these specific actions is what caused so much horror for these immigrant families. For example, the zero-tolerance policy is an action that shouldn’t have ever been made. This policy apart from going against the law for undocumented people wanting to request asylum are treated strictly as criminals. According to the video it states “People don’t leave their home countries unless they have to unless what they are facing at home is so much worse than the dangers they face along the way”. I totally agree with this quote because these people don’t want to cross the border illegally but because they need to for their families. Most of these people are coming in to protect their families and construct a better life for them. It is not fair to create this zero-tolerance policy and making it result in family separation at the border. Knowing these people are coming in because they are in need. 

      In this video, some rhetorical factors I like that the authors used was the choice of evidence they picked. Meaning a part of researching and gathering all the data to use in the video. They have included an interview with an attorney, which increases credibility. Where in the video you’ll hear audio parts from the attorney speaking about this matter. 

      “The situation has been called in an invasion, national emergency, and a humanitarian crisis”

      Lazo, Luz. “For Kids, Crossing the U.S. Border Illegally Involves Fear and Hope.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 9 Oct. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/for-kids-crossing-the-us-border-illegally-involves-fear-and-hope/2019/10/01/5618ed00-e131-11e9-be96-6adb81821e90_story.html.

       In this article it states a young girl and her family experience crossing the U.S border. An 11-year-old girl Wendy traveled with her parents and her older sister in May. They traveled by foot, car, and crossed the Rio Grande River. It took them approximately 1 month to arrive at the U.S border from El Salvador. During this course, Wendy with her father have gotten split up from her mother and older sister. Later Wendy and her father surrendered to the U.S. Border Patrol officers. After they were taken to an immigrant processing center in Mc Allen, Texas. As Wendy explained she was taken away from her father and put into a big room with no windows and other immigrant girls and women. Where she stayed for four days and only ate ham and cheese sandwiches. Within these four days, she wasn’t able to take a shower and neither was there enough space to lie down on the floor due to it being very crowded. Also at night, she would use aluminum foil as blankets. At the end of the four days, Wendy was reunited with her father and flew out to Washington to be with their relatives that would host them. After going through a similar experience Wendy’s Mother and older sister joined them in early June in Maryland. However, after this long journey, Wendy’s parents discuss the reason they left their home country was that they didn’t earn enough money to support their families and were also afraid of gangs. Although Trump’s administration has announced that those who enter the country illegally will immediately be sent back to their countries or to Mexico while the U.S. government considers their immigration request.

       After reading this article about Wendy and her family going through this harsh experience to come to the U.S. I disagree with how this young girl and her family were treated since they surrendered to the U.S. Border Patrol officers to the day they were released. The conditions they were in are unbelievable and inhuman. According to the article, Wendy states, “During the day, she said, she mostly sat in silence and prayed quietly”. They were in a big room with no windows to even see a bit of sunlight. They slept on the floor and there wasn’t even enough space to sleep and they would cover themselves with aluminum foils. Also, they weren’t properly being fed healthy food and not enough. However, I don’t understand how our country is allowing this type of unfair treatment towards undocumented people. I understand our government doesn’t want undocumented people entering illegally into the U.S. Although we also have to understand that these immigrants don’t do it because they want to cause problems. But because they have families they need to support and they just want to offer a better future for their kids. I see no harm in and also no need for all this injustice being made throws them. They experience enough risk traveling from their home places to the U.S. These undocumented families do this is because there are in some really big need, for our country to be harsh and try to close the doors on them.

      In this article, a rhetorical factor I like was that it was about an actual family that had the first-hand experience of what actually happened at the U.S border. Another factor I like was the pictures the author included the family and how they’re doing to this present day.

      “I was afraid I was going to drown,” said Wendy, who now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. The entire trip was long and scary, she said.”

       Department of Homeland Security. “Zero Tolerance Immigration Prosecutions – Family Fact Sheet.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 15 June 2018, www.cbp.gov/newsroom/zero-tolerance-immigration-prosecutions-family-fact-sheet.

       This Family Fact Sheet from the Department of Homeland Security states by law what are the procedures for immigrants crossing the border illegally. Anyone who enters the border illegally even with children will be prosecuted. After being prosecuted, any family involved will be separated from their parents. Children will be sent off to the department of health and human services, and to the Office of Refugees Resettlement. These children are held in temporary shelters or hosted by an appropriate family. places. Where they take care of children’s medical care, mental health care, and educational programs. Also, ICE will work on regular communication between parents and their children. Although all individuals that have entered illegally will be sent to the Department of Justice and present before a federal judge. Later the result made from a federal judge will be sent to ICE to follow up immigration proceedings. Although any individual that has been prosecuted for illegal entry can seek asylum and any other protection available under law. However, children can also present individual claims for asylum and may take separate immigration proceedings.

       After reading the family fact sheet and knowing by law what the procedures have to be taken toward families and any individual that enters the country illegally. Which actually doesn’t seem the same procedures that are being taken at the border. According to the family fact sheet, “Children in HHS ORR custody are provided with appropriate care, including medical care, mental health care, and educational programs”. Considering past research these children aren’t given all the care that they’re in the title too. For example, mental health care and education programs aren’t given to these undocumented children. While they are being held in these temporary shelters there are sleeping on the floors. Where there isn’t even enough space for these children to sleep. Let alone have space for educational programs they can attend to. Also, there’s no mental health care given to these children because they spent all day in these shelters sitting quietly. Lastly, children shouldn’t be allowed to make their own claims without their parents, because they’re too young to understand. This is why they should be with their parents and file claims together instead of separate. Children shouldn’t present themselves at federal court without their parents. 

       The rhetorical factor that this genre uses is that it’s a legal source. Meaning the agent from the Department of Homeland Security wrote this family fact sheet and based it on what the law states and what should be happening according to them.

      “Children whose parents are referred for prosecution will be placed with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)”.

       Throughout all my research the most important thing I noticed is the bizarre process these undocumented families have to go through when coming to the U.S. Border, that is actually only really seeking help from the United State. Within my research what surprised me was how hard all this situation must have been for both parents and children. Having little children like 4 years old separated from their parents. These children don’t understand what is going on, they go through many emotional problems like anxiety, fear, sadness, and many more. Not having one person for comfort like their parents and marking them go through a legal process without them. Also, the amount of suffering a parent goes through when being separated from their children. Words can’t explain how a mother or father must feel when their children that are everything to them isn’t by their side. Which more pain must be when they don’t hear or know anything about their children. Overall, after researching my question all the information I have collected has made me understand more in-depth what’s actually happening at the border. It has made me realize the major issue than just knowing what is happening to these undocumented families at the border. Although the injustice that the government is making towards these families. This is important to know to be able to be aware of situations like these. Having students knowing about these undocumented families will help bring awareness to the public eye. Making society see and understand what the United States is doing to these families is necessary. With awareness, we as a community in the U.S. can make a major difference. We can all come together to make a change for these people that are in major need of help. By doing so it will also reach up to the eye of our government system. Which hopefully they will view over and see how the way there handling undocumented families isn’t actually the most correct manner. Their current procedures are just unnecessary; there’s no need to have a separation between parents and children. It doesn’t benefit the system nor the government. Improvement should be made, and make new and reasonable procedures that are really necessary that would actually benefit both the government and the immigrants. Instead of causing so much pain and distress to these innocent people that only want the opportunity to raise a better life for their families.

Revision for Unit 3:

If I would have had more time I would have added more evidence. For example, I would have linked the evidence I used in Unit two in my genre.

Family Separation At the Border 

      Separation at the border has been a hash action taken towards undocumented families. Having these parents and children go through massive emotional pain. By not having one another by their side through what must seem a scary process of being detained at the border. This is why we as high schoolers are at the age to make a difference. Help spread awareness throughout our community by using every type of platform we have to. Which can lead to making a change for these undocumented families at the border.

        No children should go through these detained processes without their parents. Their minors don’t know what’s happening. Having them pulled apart from their loved ones. Also being held in tents with strange people that they don’t even know. Having no sort of communication with their parents. Neither their parents have any type of information on their children’s whereabouts. Which only creates pain for these families.

        As shown from these pictures we can realize that there needs to be justice made for these undocumented families. There’s no need to separate undocumented families. There’s no type of benefit that the United States government gets out of this action. This only caused emotional problems for both parents and children. When these families travel a risky path to get to the U.S. from their home countries. Just to have an opportunity to give their kids a better future. 

Artist Statement:

      What is the current situation for undocumented families crossing the United States with children? I have always been interested in this topic since I first saw a video in the media of how undocumented children would have to represent themselves at court for entering illegally. This caught my attention immediately because first children are minors that shouldn’t be facing any type of illegal issues alone. Most importantly when they have their parents that they could be with and face situations like these together instead of apart. However, I didn’t actually ever really have the opportunity to actually go more in-depth with this situation and research more about it. This is where my inspiration came from because I have always had that in my mind. Until I was able to actually write about something I wanted and what seemed important to me. 

      However, picking the genre was a little hard at first. Mostly because there are multiple various genres to choose from. Although I was able to make a choice by putting myself in my audience mentally. Meaning I had to think as a high schooler and think what type of genre would they most likely pay more attention to. Then I concluded by making a video or a teen magazine. Both actually were good genres to make but I finally chose a teen magazine. I thought it would catch my audience’s attention by reading and viewing images of what I’m writing. Which is my purpose as a writer towards my high school audience. Where I choose this audience because I felt like there at the age enough to understand the injustice being made towards these undocumented families when separating them. Also, they have the power to spread more awareness of these undocumented families’ situation. Finally, my purpose in my writing piece was to show and explain what actually happens to these undocumented families at the border. To be able to help our community to come together and make a change for these undocumented families.

       This is why I included three images. Although at first, I was only going to put one and write a long paragraph. However, I thought why don’t I show what I’m writing instead of just plan writing. I started to think from my audience’s point of view and see a page with only one picture and a whole lot of words, which would seem a little boring and not interesting to read. This is why the images I included in my teen magazine are to grab my audience’s attention. Like the saying says “ a picture is worth 1000 words”. Finally, the pictures I included also fit perfectly in my writing because it backs up all the information I researched and wrote about.

       Lastly, going back to my work I am glad to have been able to write what was most important. Mainly not to sound repetitive from Unit 2. Although it was hard to have gathered all of the information from unit 2 and be able to do my teen magazine for unit 3. Mostly because it’s a lot of information and in my perspective, everything seemed important. Which was hard not to include certain things.    

Final Reflection:

       Throughout this whole first semester, I have released that there’s a lot of work to be done. Which at first I didn’t understand why and how all these writing assignments were helping our writing skills. However, now that we have come to the end of the semester I have realized the purpose of each one of my writing pieces. For example, in unit 1 I stated, “In the process, I will develop more and more my English language and techniques that will make me better in my reading and writing skills”. This is exactly what I have done this semester with all my work. I have learned a lot from the feedback I have gotten from my professor and classmates. One feedback I got is, there’s a lot more to write about than what you actually think. Meaning in unit one we had to write about an event that impacted the way we view education, which also has to be 1000 words. Although when writing this assignment I would always get stuck because I felt like there wasn’t anything more I could write. However, the feedback I got helped me to think more about my audience and ask myself what can be unclear for them. I would be asking myself what, where, why, or how after reading each paragraph to see if I missed anything. 

       Therefore, ending this semester with unit three wasn’t actually my favorite piece of work. Mostly because I found it very difficult when writing my genre. Although it wasn’t choosing the genre we were supposed to write. We had to write what was the most important from unit two, which was hard because I struggled in trying not to sound repetitive. In spite of the fact that there was one lesson that really stuck with me, was a shitty first draft and how to clean up our mess. This helped me a lot because sometimes I don’t know where to start off, so I would write and write. Later I would go back and put everything together and organize my writing. These two lessons helped me in not getting stuck in my writing. Not having to worry about organizing and writing, but just writing all my thoughts down. Lastly, my reading, writing, and thinking improved as are genres and assignments changed. For example, as I stated, “As in reading and writing we can be able to know what message is being sent through identifying the genre it is”. This explains how close reading helped me identify the genre, which helps me understand the messages that are being sent. Also, help in my writing skill to write clearly to be able to identify the genre I’m writing. Also helped me think of my audience and what I could be missing that may seem unclear for them. 

       However, as assignments changed so did content and design, which personally making these decisions wasn’t so hard. Mostly because they are self-explanatory. Meaning every piece of writing assignment has its own template to follow. Although if I didn’t understand or had difficulties I would have asked my professor. Even though I had some assumptions in my writing, that is grammar and punctuation errors. Also not being able to send my message through my writing and just write unnecessary stuff. Along the semester with the help of my professor and classmates’ feedback has helped me prove a lot of my grammar and pronunciation errors that I haven’t noticed. Also, add more information where I didn’t see that needed to be added. For example, I stated “I started to think from my audience point of view and seeing a page with only one picture and a whole lot of words, would seem a little boring and not interesting to read”. This is one example of where I took the feedback I got and applied it to my writing. Before I would write and write and forget about my audience. Now I write for my audience, which helps me also not to get stuck so much when writing. Also, it allows me to avoid sounding less repetitive. 

       Overall, revising my past assignments helped me a lot. I was able to proofread thoroughly and catch my own errors. The error that I wish I would’ve seen before. Although I wasn’t actually aware of these errors. Until I was told through my professor’s comments in my assignment. Where I have repeatedly done this in my assignments. For example, one error I didn’t notice I was doing often was sentence fragments. Although I have taken this feedback and will use it to improve in my upcoming assignments. However, these sentence fragments might have been actually my biggest challenge in this course. Mostly because I have been doing this without realizing it. I have attempted to fix these errors by seeing some links my professor has sent me to be able to see the difference and understand what sentence fragments are. However it’s challenging because I used to write a certain way, so now I have to also have in mind when writing if I repeat any sentence fragment errors. 

 

REFLECTION:

I’ve always had a great talent for writing, however this class in specific has helped me learn so much and essentially grow as a writer. I thought that due to the fact that all of my learning this semester would be online i wouldn’t learn much, however that couldn’t be further from the truth. One of the most important things in reference to my writing that I learned is about how important it is to capture the audience’s attention, and to make the format of your writing digestible enough for readers to understand it. One important example being how to properly put a quote into my text with it not only making sense to me but also to the reader. The format being to build up to the quote, then execute the quote, and finally explain the quote. This was one of the many lessons that resonated with me because I use to feel as though my process of including quotes was awkward. For example in unit 2 during my source entries I sometimes would just place a quote after a sentence and then explain it with no real prior build up which made it seem like it essentially came out of no where. For example in source entry #1 I conclude my paragraph with “In the article it states “There is even some research that suggests that black, working-class families tend to stay in gentrified neighborhoods rather than leave them, and that the economic

benefits of gentrification do indeed reach all residents.’” Now that I am aware

of how to properly input a quote I not only would’ve built up to it prior in

the paragraph but I also would have explained what it meant before concluding

it like that. This is because although it made sense to me, it may not make

sense to others who may read it. I see growth in this department when analyzing my unit three project in the transcript for my podcast. For example I stated “Now this in and of itself isn’t inherently bad however there are plenty of negative effects that follow. One of them being an increase in rent. According to the NYU Furman Center “Percent Change in Average Rent Between 1990 and 2010-2014’ was “23.5%”. Now i don’t know about ya’ll but 23.5% is 23.5% more money that i don’t have (laugh). But now the average rent in Central Harlem has increased 53.2% from 2010 to 2014. Like wow. That’s a lot of money.” The growth i noticed when analyzing this was that i not only built up to my quote but i was able to explain why i utilized it and it’s purpose in a digestible way for my audience (even going far enough to make a realistic joke out of it to match my genre which was the news podcast ).This strengthened my work immensely and helped me to get an overall structure in reference to the input of my quotes, that i can utilize in any class.

Another thing i noticed that i have learned in class to strengthen my writing would that if i’m at a block or don’t know where to start when choosing a topic for class then i should hone in on something specific to talk about. For example during my conference with professor Hall in unit 2, i was told that if i was having a rough starting point with the topic of gentrification then maybe i could focus my paper on something specifically having to do with gentrification. This was helpful information to me due to the fact that we are in a pandemic and if i am struggling with how to start a paper i have to handle that myself. I don’t necessarily have the help of my peers and my professors at all times, so this is a good way to remind myself how to pick and start a topic for my paper. Furthermore i decided to do just that and focus on gentrification specifically in NYC. In my first source entry i stated “Other things i think would help my essay would be to look up instances in specific communities where gentrification became or is becoming a big problem. After reading this text i found out that Bushwick, Brooklyn NY is currently in a big battle with gentrification, and i want to explore other communities too. This text also helped to narrow down my search to gentrified neighborhoods in only New york, where previously i was going to research gentrified neighborhoods in general.” This not only helped me get a good foot on the ground, but i ultimately knew what kind of information i would have to research and how to incorporate it into my writing. Although my first semester wasn’t the typical college experience, it was eventful and gave me key information that others may find common sense but helped me personally in my writing. These are all pieces of information that i will not only keep with me but utilize in other classes to strengthen my writing. Without the guidance of Professor Hall or the help of my classmates i not only wouldn’t have soaked in this information but i would have still been in that same position i was at the beginning of the semester in terms of how i write.

UNIT 3 (UPDATED):

https://youtu.be/WhaZU-UNGeE (Updated Unit

3 project Link)

2-3 SENTENCE INTRO: As i decided to edit unit 3 i chose to specifically focus on making sure that i wasn’t neglecting any arguments the other side could be making. This is because although it is, i don’t want my opinion to sound biased. I want my readers to hear any argument the other side could make and see that there is a rebuttal present for it.

Updated Podcast Transcript:

     Welcome back to the cur-events podcast. I am your host Hasani Wright and today we will be focusing on how gentrification is negatively affecting New York City and it’s residents along with the big question “Does gentrification do more harm than good?”. For those of you listening in at home that missed last week’s segment which covered what gentrification was, count yourself lucky because I’ll be informing you again today and be sure to text 1800-Curevents to leave any of your gentrification horror stories for us to read. Again text 1800-curevents for an opportunity to have your experience with gentrification featured on our podcast. That’s 1800-curevents (spelled).  So to start gentrification is the process in which wealthy upper class citizens (who are usually white) Move into poor communities (that usually inhabit citizens of color). Now this in and of itself isn’t inherently bad however there are plenty of negative effects that follow. One of them being an increase in rent. According to the NYU Furman Center “Percent Change in Average Rent Between 1990 and 2010-2014’ was “23.5%”. Now i don’t know about ya’ll but 23.5% is 23.5% more money that i don’t have (laugh). But now the average rent in Central Harlem has increased 53.2% from 2010 to 2014. Like wow. That’s a lot of money. Now all of that isn’t to say that there aren’t some positive aspects that arise from gentrification. Gentrification is a sign of economic growth and as money flows into these neighborhoods many things change for the better. Buildings are renovated better, more jobs arrive, as the property rate increases so does funding for public schools, and statistics have shown that crime rates also decline in gentrified neighborhoods. These all are wins i agree, but at what cost?  Ooh it appears we have got our first gentrification horror story of the day but before we get to that let’s get to these ads.

 

     *AD (Voiced by Krystle Webster). * Ever wondered what comfortable housing feels like, well I’m here to tell you. Hello my name is Elizabeth Mootchii of Mootchi apartment housing in central Harlem. Built right on top of where CH apartments used to stand. What’s the difference you may ask? Well we have brought out and demolished all small businesses that are placed around what is currently Mootchii apartment housing in order to maximize spacing and comfortability. With rent starting at $6,200 we hope to comfortably house an abundant number of people who will enjoy living in one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods in New York city. Not to mention the amount of stores and corporations nearby meant to amplify that comfortable feeling. Did I even mention the New Starbucks being built on top of where Ronnie’s Bodega used to be? So many opportunities for so little money, with housing once again starting at $6,200. For more information text 444-MoochiHousing and remember we have so mootch to offer!

 

     Okay back to the cur-events podcast. So our gentrification horror story for the day is a submission from a man named Ray Torodo. According to Mr.Torodo he lived in an apartment complex in East Harlem. He had planned on retiring and living out the rest of his days in his apartment. I mean it was his childhood home, where his mother grew and raised him. To continue essentially his landlord wanted him to move out, they had a whole plan about tearing down the complex and building a new more expensive one. I mean I get it, that’s more money in their pockets but at another person’s expense? I don’t know. Anyways Ray refused to move out, even though all the other tenants had. He was the last holdout, the last man living there. I mean this man’s apartment was falling apart all around him and his water didn’t even work but he still wanted to stay. Now many of you may be thinking, why didn’t Ray just move out when asked if all these things were occurring?Well this was his childhood home, he had been promised this home from since he was living with his mother in it. And he had payed off everything, he had built an entire life around living in this place and he had built his entire life off of what was surrounding this building that he could no longer live in. And it was really hard for him, he didn’t have the facilities to just move out on such short notice and get another apartment. Although many people might say that it would have just been better for him to find a new home you have to think if you were in his position, what would you have done? Would you have fought for your home that you had lived in for over 40 years or would you have just let it be taken from you so that a “Better home” could be placed on top of it? Apparently his landlord didn’t want to pay for the water to get fixed because she just wanted him out, and I guess this was a way to try to make him do so. I don’t know. It seems kind of weird to me. Apparently “The feelings of frustration and marginalization among longtime residents who are displaced by gentrification are magnified as landlords often turn to aggressive and abusive tactics”. Ray even tells us he went to court apparently. To fight for his home. He ended up losing though. He lost the court battle and his home all in the same day for less money than he put into it. Sorry that happened to you Ray. But can you all see now how gentrification negatively affects people? This proves that gentrification does more harm than good. I mean yeah sure more money is made from a larger more expensive apartment being placed on an old one but whose pockets does it go back into? Oh yeah the rich and the white. I mean it leaves people of color homeless and without the comfortability of the neighborhood they’ve made an entire life around.

Oh that’s all for the show today guys. Be sure to tune in next week where we will be cooking with Gordon Ramsey. Until then be sure to keep up with your cur-events!

Artist statement:

     Honestly if you had asked me about gentrification two years ago i would have said that word was too big and would have been uninterested. So when it did become an interesting topic for me I was kind of astonished. I became interested in gentrification and the effects of gentrification when I had initially heard about the term in my drama class. We were doing these 3 minute plays from a book and we focused so heavily on gentrification (as that was the theme). Initially I was confused because it was explained how important it was but it was weird to me that I was just now learning what it was. Not to mention no one told me how negative its effects were. I then focused on gentrification in New York as that is a big problem and whether gentrification did more harm than good for people. I want to present this as a podcast as it is a form of news and I believe that people take information more seriously when it is in a news format. Especially to the rich white people who need to hear this and be affected by this.

 

     As aforementioned this needs to reach rich white individuals who will never be affected by gentrification. They need to see the effect it has on people, and give them an informational yet human outlook on how gentrification molds its surroundings. I believe that if they do hear the informational aspect of it they’ll understand how increased rent and increased homelessness go hand in hand with gentrification. However as landlords and people of power I’m sure they already know this. So I planned to incorporate a man’s story and the effect gentrification had on him and his livelihood into the paper. Hopefully this will humanize the text and cause them to think the next time they decide to close down a small business and build a Starbucks on top of it or move a family out of their home for the sole purpose of destroying it in order to get more money. Overall the goal is to show them that there are still people hurting under all that money.

 

     There were many things that did not become the final product, and my work grew as I did. Initially I wanted to do a news video as that’s the genre. However I couldn’t find a way to professionally portray this. I also did not want to do a news article as I feel like the audience I am trying to reach wouldn’t have time to read it. I wanted it to be immersive and interesting, so after talking it through with Professor Hall I decided to do a podcast. This led to little to no problems as i was already in the process of writing a script, and tweaking it into podcast form wasn’t that difficult. I learned how to utilize tone and music to set a mood for specific talking points as that is important for a podcast. Your face and body can’t be shown so all you have is sound to kind of set a mood and tell a story which I found really interesting and different as I had never done anything like it before.

UNIT 1 (UPDATED):

2-3 SENTENCE INTRO: I decided to fix my conclusion and a few minor details in the text. However the conclusion was the main thing i worked on, this is because it had been explained to me that my conclusion excluded the fact that there are autistic people, dyslexic people, and individuals who are just bored with the content and that that is what prohibited them from learning. I didn’t mean to look over this and make it seem as though if the way you’re taught doesn’t cater to you then “oh well”, because that isn’t the case and i believe that educators should try and teach all students in a way that’s comfortable to them.

I had always assumed that the education system was perfect, i mean it’s used to help mold the brains of billions of kids around the globe. As a kid, school holds a sort of authority over your life, it’s not really something you question. You assume everything is put into place to perfectly educate your peers and you, it’s a system you are taught to trust. However the older i got, the more i noticed instances that refute the previous mindset that had been put in my head for years.

An incident in specific that changed my view on education would have to be in the 11th grade. The summer before school started, I had been emailed my schedule for the school year. I remember reviewing my schedule, deeply focused on what classes i would have for the year. Wondering which of my friends would be in which period, and how many periods i had before lunch. I was pleased to see that i was accepted into my first AP class, computer science. Of course i was prepared for it to be difficult, not only because it was an AP course but because computer science involves a lot of math (which isn’t a strength of mine). Fast forward about 2-3 months into the school year, something unexpected yet great happened to me. I was understanding and doing the work easily, even the math. This is because i work better with hands on work, opposed to other forms of learning. A lot of the material had been hands on up to that point, and it really made me more confident in my work and in my self. However i also realized that other kids were struggling either because 1. thats not how they were use to working or 2. because that’s not how they worked best. This led me to the conclusion that even tho this may work well for me and others, that doesn’t mean that it’s what works best for everyone.

At the end of every unit our teacher would do a survey just to get an understanding of where her class was at. I remember sitting at my desk typing on those cold MacBooks. Feeling like these surveys were unnecessary and a waste of time as i assumed the teacher wouldn’t even consider anyone’s ideas (none the less read all of them). The aforementioned survey would ask various questions such as “What was your favorite topic this unit”, “what do you want to see next unit”, and “Are there any lingering questions”. Another question being “what do you want to see changed next unit?”. Of course i put the usual such as “less homework” or “more extra credit” as i was doing fairly well with how she was teaching up till that point. However i’m guessing multiple of my classmates asked for less hands on experiences, because as soon as the new unit took place that’s exactly what happened. My teacher opted for less hands on work and for more written assignments and lecture type class periods. I then found myself struggling and frustrated that i couldn’t work, i found myself exactly where i feared i’d be the summer before school started. This took a toll on not only my grades, but also my confidence in that course. Needless to say, some kids thrived in this new work environment and did a complete 180 in terms of grades.

That’s when i realized that the way we’re educated isn’t perfect, you can’t cater to every kids way of learning and you definitely can’t please every student. However as an educator and you have to find out what works for the majority, as the education system isn’t an exact science. That isn’t to say that others should be left to the wayside if they don’t fit the general way of learning. I believe that every students needs should be catered to so that they are learning and soaking up information. In saying that education isn’t perfect, i’m saying that it wasn’t made to perfectly resonate with every single kids way of learning. Some might have to work harder to grasp a concept than others, and although it isn’t fair it’s how the education system works. There are alternatives you can take on situations such as the one i was in. There’s lunch lessons, one on one talks, office hours, etc. Which is exactly what i did, i stayed after school a lot that year and even asked my teacher at the time for alternative ways of learning. My after school would include doing the same problem over and over until i understood, coming home drained from the work, and even more practice after that. This however doesn’t exempt educators from excluding students who may need more help than others. They are just as important as any other student who can typically learn a topic. Although at the time i looked at it as unfair that i had to work harder than others in order to grasp a concept, i quickly realized that just a few months ago other students were in my place. There are instances in which students may be autistic, dyslexic, or just simply bored with the work which is prohibiting them from being engaged enough to learn. My teacher of course would not change how she taught the course to spite me, but she needed to do what was best for the majority. Although we assume the best in the school system and other authorities in our lives, it is important to take a notice to this flow of value type trust. I made the observation that the education system wasn’t perfect, and it changed my mind about education from there on out. I learned to rely on myself to understand things, because some educators ways of learning may not help me.

« Older posts